Scott Brown cites 'extreme agenda' of Elizabeth Warren

Senator Scott Brown, accompanied by his wife, Gail Huff, was a guest speaker at Rays of Hope, A Walk and Run Toward the Cure of Breast Cancer, in Springfield on Sunday. The non-partisan event was not part of Brown's current campaign tour.KEVIN GUTTING Purchase photo reprints »

Senator Scott Brown shakes hands with Lee Ann Herbert of Ludlow, as Cindy Fagan, center, of Southampton looks on before the start of Rays of Hope, A Walk and Run Toward the Cure of Breast Cancer, in Springfield on Sunday. Brown was one of the guest speakers at the non-partisan event.KEVIN GUTTING Purchase photo reprints »

Lucy Carvalho, center, who founded Rays of Hope, A Walk and Run Toward the Cure of Breast Cancer, in 1974, presents T-shirts to Senator Scott Brown and his wife, Gail Huff, right, upon their arrival for the start at Temple Beth El in Springfield on Sunday. KEVIN GUTTING Purchase photo reprints »

Senator Scott Brown, second from right, makes a campaign appearance at St. Anthony's Cedars Social & Banquet Hall in Springfield on Sunday where he was introduced by former Democratic Springfield mayor Charlie Ryan. KEVIN GUTTING Purchase photo reprints »

Ayla Brown, a former contestant on American Idol, sings the National Anthem at a campaign stop by her father, Senator Scott Brown, at St. Anthony's Cedars Social & Banquet Hall in Springfield on Sunday.KEVIN GUTTING Purchase photo reprints »

SPRINGFIELD — U.S. Sen. Scott Brown described himself as a “uniter” during a pair of campaign stops here Sunday and accused his Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren of pushing an “extreme agenda.”

Brown, the Republican incumbent, repeatedly attempted to tie his challenger to an unpopular Congress, saying Warren would contribute to the gridlock that has dominated Washington in recent years.

“There are extremes on both sides,” Brown said in an interview. “Can you imagine (New York Sen.) Chuck Schumer and (Minnesota Sen.) Al Franken and the extremes on the left also controlling the agenda? That’s why it’s important for me and people like me to be in the middle pushing back against those extremes. I am a moderate pro-choice Republican.

“That is the difference between my opponent and me,” he added. “It’s that extreme agenda that will make her fit in with the people down there.”

Brown’s visit to the largest city in western Massachusetts capped a busy weekend of campaigning in the region. Warren visited Springfield on Saturday to pick up the endorsement of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, while U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders, an independent from Vermont, campaigned for her in Northampton on Sunday.

Just over a week before the election, two polls released Friday show Brown trailing Warren by 5 percentage points. A WBUR/MassInc poll put Warren’s lead at 48 percent to 43 percent, just outside its 4.4 percent margin for error. A Rasmussen Reports poll gave Warren a 52 to 47 percent, also just above its margin for error of 4.5 percent.

Those polls showed Warren’s lead among women growing, while both candidates were losing support among independents.

In the WBUR/MassInc poll, 53 percent of women said they had a favorable or somewhat favorable view of Warren, compared to 42 percent for Brown. Earlier in the month, the same poll showed Warren with a 50 percent favorability rating among women, compared to a 48 percent rating for Brown.

Independents, meanwhile, viewed both candidates less favorably than they did earlier in the month. The earlier WBUR/MassInc poll found Brown with a 62 favorability rating among independents, compared to 39 percent for Warren. In Friday’s poll, those numbers were down to 54 percent for Brown and 35 percent for Warren.

Campaigning in Springfield

Brown’s campaign stops in Springfield were aimed at women and independent voters. He paid a visit to the 19th annual Rays of Hope — A Walk & Run Toward the Cure of Breast Cancer, mingling with potential voters alongside his wife, Gail Huff, and daughter Ayla Brown.

In brief remarks, Brown told the crowd he would continue to fight for National Institutes of Health grants to support research for a cure to breast cancer.

In an interview, Brown dismissed Warren’s attacks criticizing him for voting against equal-pay legislation and the nomination of Elena Kagan for a vacancy on the Supreme Court.

He said he has supported 92 percent of President Barack Obama’s “female, pro-choice” nominees for judicial appointments, and that he voted against Kagan because of her lack of judicial experience.

Meanwhile, Brown said he voted against an equal-pay bill because regulations it included would have hurt women by eliminating jobs.

“She can try to scare women and she really needs to stop,” Brown said of Warren.

Julie Edwards, the communications director for the Warren campaign, responded Sunday by issuing this statement:

“Scott Brown has been raising money across the country by telling people that this could be the race that gives the Republicans control of the Senate and is a ‘hedge’ against President Obama’s agenda.

“A Republican Senate would roll back reproductive rights, weaken clean air and water rules and lavish more tax breaks on millionaires at the expense of the middle class,” she continued. “Scott Brown doesn’t want to talk about it, but his vote for a Republican Senate would empower the most extreme elements of the Republican Party.”

Brown later attended a campaign rally at the Cedars Banquet Facility, one of three statewide stops Brown made Sunday as part of his “People over Party” tour highlighting his bipartisan credentials. He was introduced by Charles V. Ryan, a Democrat and former mayor of Springfield.

Ryan, who spoke before a large blue backdrop reading “Democrats for Brown,” likened the Republican senator to the late President John F. Kennedy and said Brown’s ability to reach across the aisle would help put an end to partisan bickering on Capitol Hill.

“In Scott Brown, I have found reason to hope again,” Ryan told a cheering crowd of more than 100 supporters.

Brown argued that he has been an independent voice in Washington and that he will continue to be a “uniter” in Congress.

“They want to put party over people right now. They want to divide us so everyone will get the crumbs they throw us in Washington,” Brown said. “I’ll be there until my very last breath, trying to find the ways to bring our parties together, the people together to move our country forward ...

“When the left’s mad at me and the right’s mad at me, it’s a badge of honor.”